The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-12
POINTING OUT A DANGER.
The Use Made of Corks Drawn in
BarroomS.

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The Use Made of Corks Drawn in
Barrooms.
NEW YORK, Sept 10.-While at the Hoff-
man House Art Gallery the other evening
the bartender cut his hand while opening
bottle of Rhine wine. So perfect was the
disciple of that distinguished hostelry that
before attending to his wound he threw the
cork half covered with his blood into some
receptacle beneath the bar, then tied up the
injured member and went ON with his
duties
''You are more careful with the cork than
with your hand, " remarked a patron of the
house.
ga little bleeding more or less does but
little harm" replied the dispenser of fra
grant beverages, land we get in the habit
of taking care of the corks and do it in
stinctively. They're valuable commod-
ity."
Where does the value come in"
why, we and every other barroom in
the city sell them to the cork peddlers. A
house like this will draw as high as 1000
corks in a day, and can dispose of them a
dozen times over don't know what the
peddlers do with them, but guess that they
sell them to soda water men and manufac-
turers of ginger ale and other cheap drinks y
Among the party which listened to the
conversation, was DR.. Henry Lassing, the
editor of the american analyst. He said,
after the bartender had ceased, 81 have
looked into the secondhand cork business
and find it of great interest. These corks
are sold to peddlers who make the business
speciality. They collect anywhere from
5000 corks day apiece. A few of them
take the corks home, boil them in water or
with dilute lye, separate them according to
kinds and sizes, and then sell them to wine
dealers and bottlers. The majority of the
peddlers go direct from the saloons to their
customers and there dispose of their
load. In a place like this the sec
ond hand corks are clean and
new. But as you saw, one was COW
cred with blood, and probably by this
time has soiled all the others around it.
Another cork will be covered with milk, a
third with egg nogg and fourth with ale.
So it goes on until, when the pail or box is
full, the corks it contains are wet and dirty
with moist matter that has already begun
to ferment or germinate, and which almost
always contains a vast number of germs
If this is the case in this hotel what is it
not in the majority of saloons where the
management is seldom careful, and who
shall describe it in those numerous dives
and groggeries which reek with filth and
disease!
"All such corks are repositories of fer
ments, decomposition and unhealthy germs,
while few contain the seeds of contagious
and infectious diseases.
'One-third are purchased by wine dealers
Some of these buy and bottle imported
wines alone, but the majority mixes i'm
ported and native wines and bottles this
mixture, or else simple American vintages
and labels and sells the article as the gen
uine article from the Fatherland or from
LaBelie France. This goes to the saloons
and largely to the groceries and wine
stores The largest portion of the corks
is purchased by the manufacturers of bot
tied temperance drinks, soda, ginger ale,
pop beer, lemon soda, sarsaparilla,
root beer, birch beer, and the like
The consumption of this class of goods,
especially in summer, is enormous. Every
bar room, ice cream saloon, drug store, gro
Gerry and restaurant sells one or more articles
of the sort. They are popular because they
are cheap. They are so cheap that you can
form an idea from the fact that manu-
facturer makes and sells box containing
two dozen bottles of the stuff for less than
40 cents, a trifie more than l Is cents bottle
This covers raw materials, labor, rent
breakage, interest on capital and the cork,
not to speak of the profit which keeps him
alive No wonder he cannot afford to buy
a new cork. The only wonder is he can
afford to buy any cork at all.
''It is as clear as daylight that filthy cork
in contact with white wine, or with the
summer drinks described, is liable to com
municate the ferment or the germs to the
latter. In such case there will under some
conditions be gradual decomposition, fer
mentation and putrefaction. and in nearly
all cases a rapid and large development OF
bacterial life A wine or temperance drink
under these circumstances would be III
furious, if not poisonous. Taken into the
stomach it would produce nausea, collie,
summer complaint OF even more serious
gastric disorders. 1t has been demonstrated
that milk will carry the infection of diph-
liberia and scarlet fever, and so bring sick
ness into healthy household, and it is
equally certain that similar state of facts
may be brought about by the use of such
corks.
"There is no danger in using bottled goods
of any class unless 1t be from the worm in
the STILL when they are put up by houses Of
high standing. Such institutions use first
class and new corks and employ every safe
guard against deterioration OF their goods
But no one Of good judgment will drink the
cheap bottled stuff where the corks are dis
colored and foul with use. The danger is
douby great in family life Children love
to bite on corks from probably the teething
habit OF earlier years Such treatment of q
cork containing putrescent matter or disease
germs is bound to iniuriously affect childs
health. do not doubt that many a case Of
cholera infantum arose in just this way.
"I do not blame the poor manufacturer
and the pedders for using these second
hand corks, but / do tho well-to-do bottlers
who make and sell sophisticated goods 10 an
ignorant public, and who can easily afford
10 give new corks with their spurious
wares" WILLIAM Il. y. FALEs.
Flames in Livery stable.